"Those who oppose Team Galactic will meet a bitter end!"
The final boss of the first wave delivered his boastful line before pulling out a handful of Poké Balls and hurling them into the air...
With dazzling flashes of white light, six Pokémon (enhanced by the Infinite World) materialized, their cold gazes fixed on the players below.
Mawile, Toxicroak, Skuntank, Crobat, Tangrowth, and Graveler...
There were only six bosses, but over a hundred players... far too many wolves for so little meat. The rewards wouldn't be enough to go around.
Moreover, only the player who landed the final blow would receive the rare item drops. Thus, many players hesitated to act immediately.
Caleb quickly scanned the crowd, taking in their reactions, before locking onto the most inconspicuous of the six bosses, Tangrowth, and diving toward it with Dragonite.
- Tangrowth: a Grass-type Pokémon, evolved from Tangela...
Though this Tangrowth had been buffed by the Infinite World, against the veteran players' arsenal of Toxic, Hypnosis, Stun Spore, and Thunder Wave, its reactions were pitifully slow.
Sleep, freeze, paralysis, poison, burn, flinch... One status condition after another slammed into it. Before it could even wake from sleep, it was frozen solid.
Then came the relentless barrage of attacks.
The battlefield below had devolved into chaos. Caleb didn't send Dragonite into the fray, opting instead to chip away at Tangrowth's health with Flamethrower and Lucario's Aura Sphere from the air.
Soon, Tangrowth's health bar dropped to around 10%...
At this point, all the players slowed their assault, their eyes glued to that sliver of remaining HP, ready to seize the killing blow.
But then... due to a momentary lapse in coordination, the chain of status effects on Tangrowth broke.
The sleeping Tangrowth's eyes snapped open. Its writhing vines lashed out in all directions, instantly ensnaring countless Pokémon.
"Flamethrower!"
Caleb frowned as Dragonite incinerated a vine lunging toward them. Then, a brilliant green light erupted from below.
The vine tentacles tightened around the players' Pokémon, draining their vitality.
This was… Giga Drain!
In that instant, countless players gaped in horror as Tangrowth's health bar began refilling before their eyes.
10%… 25%… 50%… 75%… 99%… 100%.
"What the heck?! My Pokémon just got one-shot!"
"What kind of broken move is that?! Its HP fully recovered in one hit! This is insane!"
The players' faces turned ashen.
The other five boss battles weren't faring any better.
The Mawile proved frighteningly clever. Faced with a barrage of status moves, it immediately used Substitute, then leaped into the air and unleashed Fairy Wind.
Thanks to the Infinite World's enhancements, these bosses' stats had reached absurd levels. A single Fairy Wind wiped out over half the players' Pokémon in one go.
The battles against Toxicroak, Skuntank, Crobat, and Graveler were equally disastrous...
Players who had suffered heavy losses turned to those who had held back, waiting to snipe the kills, their faces twisted in fury:
"The hell are you idiots waiting for?! A damn invitation?! This is disgusting!"
Seizing the infighting, the bosses launched another devastating assault, KO'ing yet another wave of Pokémon. Terrified by the damage, the remaining players abandoned the fight and retreate to the safety of the lake island.
In the blink of an eye, only Caleb and his three Pokémon remained facing the five bosses. The world seemed to split in two.
Players who had given up whispered among themselves:
"Who is that kid? Why isn't he running?"
"Is he trying to 1v5 them? Is he crazy?"
"A Shiny Dragonite and a Lucario... damn, all rare Pokémon!"
"So what if they're rare? Those bosses are buffed to kingdom come. Even Zapdos would get wrecked by them..."
....
The truth was, Caleb couldn't leave. He was trapped by Tangrowth's vines... Every time he tried to retreat, writhing tendrils would bar his path.
This was Tangrowth's Block, a Normal-type move that prevented escape.
It was as if the move enforced an unbreakable rule: No matter how high Dragonite flew, vines would always intercept them.
Even burning the vines with Flamethrower essentially did nothing since new ones would instantly replace them. And now, with the other players gone, the remaining four bosses had all aggro'd onto him.
"Return!" Caleb recalled Lucario and Mimikyu, hesitating as he pulled out the Escape Rope from his inventory.
This Rope had an added function... instant teleportation. It could whisk him to safety, even mid-battle.
But just as he was about to use it, a melodious voice called out from behind, "I think you might need my help."
Seated atop Garchomp, Cynthia glanced at Dragonite, "Mind if I hop on for a bit?"
Caleb instinctively scooted over.
Cynthia gracefully settled behind him, then turned to Garchomp, "It's all yours!"
"Roooar!" Garchomp's eyes gleamed with ferocity before it shot into the sky like a fighter jet.
Once again, the heavens burned crimson. Countless draconic meteors streaked downward, crashing toward the earth.
Caleb watched the breathtaking spectacle whilst voicing his concern, "Those Pokémon have been enhanced a lot..."
He was worried that even Garchomp might not be enough.
Cynthia had already deduced as much from the earlier battle. Team Galactic shouldn't possess such overwhelming strength.
Caleb fell silent as the first Draco Meteor struck the ground. Then, a storm of meteors engulfed Lake Valor.
He had assumed the enhanced bosses would shrug off the attack, but when the first meteor slammed into Tangrowth, his breath hitched.
Tangrowth's massive health bar instantly plummeted to a sliver. All five bosses, except the Fairy-type Mawile, were left on the verge of fainting in a single blow.
Caleb's eyes widened in realization, 'Of course!'
As a native of this Instance, Cynthia wasn't affected by the Infinite World's enhancements. So, she could bypass the buffs and attack the bosses' base stats directly!